Computational Complexity and other fun stuff in math and computer science from Lance Fortnow and Bill Gasarch

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Losing the Office Phone

About a month ago I had the phone in my office removed. The number was
one digit off from both maternity and a nurse's station at the U of C
hospitals and if you Googled "Chicago Ballroom Dancing" my
office phone number came up. About 90% of the phone calls were wrong
numbers and I had gotten to the point of not answering the phone
unless I recognized the Caller ID.

I could have had the number changed but I spend enough time
outside the office (at TTI, other universities, working at home) that
calling me at the office was not a reliable way to reach me.
So I just eliminated the office phone and put my mobile number on my
home page and in the university directory.

I don't rack up lots of minutes; we are primarily an email-based
community and I get on average about one work related phone call
a week. I made the change not because I want to use the phone
less, rather to make myself more accessible. Our community
relies on email too much, there are sometimes the old telephone still
comes in handy.

Calendar coordination.

Convincing someone to do something. It's much harder to say
"no" on the phone than on email.

Sensitive information. Email leaves an electronic trail and one
little typo in the email address can send your scathing comments who
knows where.

Some people like to use the phone for research. I prefer email
because it forces you to think about what to write and you get a
record of the discussion. But if there is a technical point you
disagree on, a phone call can often quickly resolve the issue.

Handling a disagreement, particularly when one or both sides are
emotional over the issue. This situation is even better handled in
person, if possible.

Catching up. At the end of a phone call we often talk about
other things going on in our lives. Happens far less in email.

More and more of our community are beginning to use instant messaging
for many of these purposes. Also with VOIP services like Skype
becoming more popular, the rest of you might lose your office phones
sooner than you expect.